Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Failure to Stop and Render Aid / Texas V. J.K.

The compassionate jury gave our client probation for running over a man. 2.5 years ago our client double parked in the common circular driveway of her apartment complex. She ran inside to grab some papers from her apartment. When she came down she found owners of the vehicle she blocked in waiting for her, a father/daughter team. Both were bigger, older, and stronger than my client. Both the father and the daughter had been drinking and started yelling at my client for double parking. Our client yelled back and proceeded to get in her car and leave the circular drive. As she was leaving the father flanked her around the other side to “take a picture of her front license plate.” I asked why and he said for the tow truck, I told him that didn’t make sense since she was leaving and one wouldn’t be needed. Father testified that our client stated if he didn’t get out of the way, she would run over him. The drive left about 20 feet on either side of the father to move. And he testified he biked 6k miles a year (120 miles per week/ 40 mi 3x a week). Little did he know that our client was lured into sex slavery at the age of 13 and kidnapped. She was kidnapped back out by the FBI during a sweep. While in police custody she was raped by a guard and once again fled to her sex slavery captors. She was then rekidnapped out by the FBI and debriefed. She suffered serious PTSD from men and especially men trying to trap her. According to our client as she was driving away from the scene, the father jumped out in front trying to stop her and she accidentally ran over him. There were no tire marks or burn out marks on the concrete. The father sustained no cuts to his leg or injuries to his knee. All of the evidence and the accident reconstructionist opined this accident occurred between 5-10 mph. The State was very overzealous and the Chief actually jumped into the middle of cross exam of the expert. He tried to force the expert to change his opinion if the father had been there waiting for the car to come around. The expert plainly stated: that would be dumb. The jury agreed. Anyone who just stood there and let a car run over them at 5-10 mph was dumb. The State knew they couldn’t make the Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, so they charged client with Failure to Stop and Render Aid, which was actually very smart. Our client did not stop or come back, or ever try to call 911 to get the father help. The State dismissed the Agg Asslt and the client pled guilty to FSRA. We went to the jury for punishment. The State asked for the max of 10 years in prison. Not surprising as they had been over aggressive the entire time. The jury heard the entire case for the Agg Assault and the FSRA. In the end, the jury showed great compassion and gave this now 21 year old mother of 3 probation for FSRA. The Judge also showed great compassion for our client by giving no jail as a condition of probation. Not every win can be a Not Guilty verdict, sometimes you did something wrong and we need to ask for forgiveness. Thank you to the jury for your compassion and we promise you that our client will not be back and she will make yall proud. Taly and I made a great team and both cared so deeply for this client.